


Acclimatize

by delphiniumDreams



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:12:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delphiniumDreams/pseuds/delphiniumDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Human Homestuck AU where two neighboring villages are forced share a space and adjust to each other after a natural disaster.<br/>~Characters and relationships will be added as I go.~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Acclimatize

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying my hand at something new, please let me know what you think!

What a terrible dream, John Egbert thought. It had to be a dream. What else could explain the red wall of flames all around the village? Sometimes when he dreamed he found it hard to open his eyes, as if his dreamself couldn't wake up fully.  
In his dream his eyes burned and it almost had him believing that the smoke really was stinging them.  
His throat was clenching and he started to panic as his vision faded. He hoped he would wake up soon as strange horned figures stepped closer and closer.  
\----  
He woke up sweating and gasping for the fourth morning in a row. For the fourth morning he had to remind himself that this was only the third dream he had had about the fire. The first night was real, it had happened.  
John sighed and braced himself to step outside. He changed from his sleeping clothes and ignored the urge to peek under his curtains.  
The intruders had made camp in the village square. They seemed to have settled in easily after saving the village.  
The villagers had taken to taken to calling the outsiders 'trolls' though they were human enough. The frightful look of them on the first night was due to the gray ash they had painted themselves in and the horned masks they were wearing.  
The trolls weren't aggressive to any of the villagers. They seemed content to squabble and spar amongst themselves. They were polite enough when confronted but John wasn't the only villager to find them abrassive and too strange.  
His friend Jade Harley was the only villager he had seen spending very much time in the camp.  
He had been considering since the second day actually introducing himself, it felt that it was the descendant of an Elder's duty but he really didn't want to do it. He knew that the trench they had dug was what had saved the village. The scorched earth from all directions stopped where the ground was broken.  
In spite of being their saviors he couldn't shake the feeling of resentment toward them, it still felt like their arrival had called in the destruction instead of the opposite, the truth.  
Dave and Rose were sitting under the tree of the village square, straight across from John's front door, the first thing he saw when he stepped out. He grumbled to himself. All of his friends were making nice with the strangers now. He had no excuse not to at least go say hello.


	2. Arachnid's Grip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Egbert meets Vriska Serket.

After seeing his friends, the first thing John noticed was the girl. While all the other outsiders grouped together and chatted as they went about morning tasks, this girl sat off by herself with the most forced looked of pride and contentment he had ever seen. Her face was much more tanned than the others, even burnt and peeling across the cheek bones, like she couldn't be bothered to stay inside or wear her mask as much as the others did. Her hair was an absolute mess and since her leggings stopped just above her knees, he could see that they were scraped and filthy.  
  
All over, she gave the impression of a boisterous mean little girl, even though she was obviously near his own age of 17.  
  
John nodded toward Dave and Rose, returned Jade's enthusiastic wave and after another minute of careful deliberation decided to close the gap between him and the trolls. He thought he would start small with his introductions by starting with the solitary girl.  
  
"Hello." He gave a brisk wave as he stepped up to her. Almost immediately he realized that this was not the place to start his greeting. He had been mistaken before, that or she had a better face of confidence when others were paying attention to her. Either way, the smug smile spread across her told him that there was probably a reason it didn't look like she had any friends.  
  
"Hi there." Her response was too drawn out, like spending 8 seconds saying 'hi' somehow made her better than anyone else. When she looked up at him her hair fell away from her face and he could see that there was a deep angry-looking scar over her left eye. One straight line with two jagged, opposing curves sprouting forth from the top. The eye didn't seem to open very far and just the amount of milky colored orb he could see turned his stomach a bit, so he focused on the other which was an other-wordly blue. He couldn't seem to be comfortable looking at either eye, so he stared at her nose instead.  
  
"I, uh, I'm John, John Egbert. My grandmother is Jane, one of the village Elders. I just wanted to come by and say hello."  
  
"Well, you certainly didn't waste any time! Imagine such a busy diplomat as yourself only taking 3 days to extend his olive branch. You are a man among men." She smirked and tossed a bit of her hair over her shoulder. A few snickers sounded around the camp, but no one else made an effort to speak to him. "I am Vriska Serket. My grandmother is Spinneret Mindfang, she is also a council-person. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Egbert."  
  
John took in a deep breath and tried to prepare a witty reply when he noticed there was a twig in her hair, at least he thought it was a twig until he saw it move a bit. He opened his mouth to ask her but instead let out an undignified screech as the hairy spider, twice the size of a grown man's hand, made its way up and over her head.  
  
She scoffed as she raised her right hand for the spider to climb down. "You're going to scare her! Or make her mad which is a lot worse!" The fuzzy arachnid was down her arm and up to her shoulder in a flash.  
  
"Why would you keep a pet spider?! Spiders are gross!"  
  
As the girl, Vriska, sneered, the giggles from the other trolls picked up again, a small framed girl sitting near Dave was lost in a cacophony of laughter far surpassing the actual humor of the situation.  
  
"She's not my pet, you bat-brained dork, she's my guide and she's not gross! You're gross!" She scooped the eight-legged creature back into her right hand again and turned away from him. He could see her left arm had the same deep, brown and red scar running all over the length of it. It didn't look like any kind of scar he'd ever seen before. It reminded him of the marks left by lightning on trees. The arm hung limp and didn't look as strong or well-formed as her right one. He wondered if she could move it at all.  
  
"What's that letter you've got on your right arm?" John asked as he awkwardly settled himself next to Vriska.  
  
"You can't take a hint, can you? It's my family's mark. My caste symbol." She hunched her shoulders deeply and continued playing some strange game with the tarantula in her lap.  
  
"It's fading."  
  
"Vriska hasn't cared for it properly. Not all families insist on permanent marks on their members, but the ones that do usually make sure that the recipients are responsible enough beforehand." John looked up to see that the comment had been made by a lovely, tall girl not far from Vriska.  
  
She had intricate green embroidery all over her garments and he wondered where they got such vivid dyes for all of their clothes. He'd also never seen everyday clothes made so elaborate. Who had time to pay that sort of detail to clothes when there was so much to do around a village?  
  
"I've never heard of any permanent marks on people, except maybe scars." He turned back to Vriska. "Why do you have two marks though?"  
  
Vriska was up in a flash. She pointed an angry finger right against John's nose. "I do NOT have two marks and you ought to learn some manners!" She stormed off and he could make out the fuzzy, gray spider weaving excitedly through her hair.  
  
John sat speechless for a few moments. He wondered what it was about the marks on her eye that had made her so angry.  
  
"Don't mind her!" The cackling girl from earlier mused. "She gets so touchy about the dumbest things."  
  
"I didn't mean to make her upset. Maybe I should go and apologize?"  
  
"Don't bother. She'll be back to mess with you before you know it and then you'll never get rid of her."  
  
Now that he was paying attention, he could see that this girl had a red cloth tied over her eyes but it didn't seem to hold her back any. He knew he had seen her working just like the others in spite of apparently being blind.  
  
"I'm Terezi Pyrope." She extended her hand only a few centimeters too close to him.  
  
"John." He said again and shook.  
  
"Is it rude to ask more about your family marks? I don't want anyone else offended."  
  
"Don't worry! Vriska is just too prideful." The girl in green seemed only too happy to take over explaining. " It's her own fault her eye is damaged and it rubs her the wrong way to be reminded. Let's see. It's mostly the noble families who are marked permanently, sort of glorifying their importance in society forever. So Feferi, Eridan, Gamzee and Equius are marked, but so are Nepeta and Karkat."  
  
John nodded even though he only knew two of the trolls names and none of the ones mentioned.  
  
"I am Kanaya." She presented one dainty hand to him and smiled graciously.  
  
"I don't know who those other people you mentioned are." John admitted as he took her hand and shook it gently.  
  
"Blues and purples are the head of the village, of course none of us are old enough to take on the role of a council person. Gamzee is the boy who looks asleep over there. He must have eaten something that didn't agree with him. Equius and Nepeta are here," she indicated the pair cuddled up and whispering on a blanket. "Feferi and Eridan are the highest caste, and Karkat," The smallest and angriest-looking out of all of them bristled at the mention of the name. "Is technically the lowest."  
  
John nodded again, even though he was sure he was picking all this up at a snail's pace and must look like a stupid child to the newcomers. He noticed Rose watching him closer, Jade looked incredibly pleased that he had finally joined the fray and Dave wasn't paying close attention, instead he was having a quiet conversation with the girl called Terezi.  
  
"Aren't you all a little young for coupling." He tilted his head in Nepeta and Equius' direction. The angry boy Karkat let out a long growl of disgust and shook his head at John's apparent ignorance.  
  
"They're moirails, you idiot." He rolled his eyes so hard it looked like he might have hurt himself when he saw John was still oblivious.  
  
"Moiraillegience is when you find the person who has your heart."  
  
"That sounds like coupling though."  
  
"No, no, would you just actually listen to me for long enough to learn something?" Karkat took a deep breath. "A lot of people, but not all, are born with someone else's heart inside them, so then when you meet the person who has your's, it's like they complete you and understand you and you are better for knowing and being around them. You're able to love them more deeply and fully than any other person because they are a part of you. And before you say it, no! There's no stupid coupling involved because that's disgusting. Who would even want to mate with their moirail."  
  
"So, they're like your best friend ever?" John winced a bit, expecting another explosion from the fiery troll for his inept interpretation.  
  
"Yeah, like that, except you have a choice as to who your best friend is. You can't just try and pretend you've got a moiraillegience because you feel like it." He gave a hard, raging glare to the boy in violet and lavender, Eridan, John thought.  
  
The boy snarled, but there was a touch of blush under his cheeks and he crossed his arms dramatically.  
  
"I, um, I really like the way you all have those colors on you. I've never seen cloth colored like that." John was anxious to change the discussion back to a brighter subject and was relieved when he saw Kanaya practically light up at the mention of clothes.  
  
"Yes! My family is one of a long line of expert tailors and gatherers of fine dye-making plants. It has been a long held tradition and there is simply no better clothiers in the world, I'm sure!" She folded her hands in her lap so prettily, he had to grin at how excited she was at the topic.  
  
"That's so interesting! The best color we can get on purpose is brown. No one really has time to find coloring plants because there's so much work to do with the vegetables and the livestock."  
  
"Really? That is interesting." Kanaya pursed her lips as she considered some of the differences between the two groups.  
  
“Didn’t you have to tend to crops and animals in your village?” John asked.  
  
“Oh, not at all! Of course, my family did have a small cultivation of pigmenting plants but for the most part the village food came from hunting and gathering. We had two settlements, but I suppose now there’s only the one and it’s several days’ journey. I wonder if we are going to go there now? It’s so far of a trek for the elders though. I’m worried how they’d hold up.”  
  
John nodded, thinking about how well he thought his grandmother or Jade’s grandfather would hold up to traveling for half a week. “The Elders have been talking so much lately, I’m sure they’re figuring out something!”  
  
Kanaya smiled. “Of course.”  
  
The conversation seemed to have just tapered off comfortably and so John sat and watched as Kanaya brought out some stitching to work on. Out of a pouch on her side she pulled out a long card that was threaded with the thin metal barbs he knew were used for stitching clothing together and half a dozen spools of thread in a gradient of the same lovely shade of green.  
  
“If you don’t mind my asking, what are you making?”  
  
She gave him a politely proud smile. “Most of our personal objects were destroyed in the fire, so I’ve been put to the task of making new clothes. I’m starting with my own, although I’m sure soon I’ll be told to move on to the Peixes.”  
  
John nodded, unsure of what to say, mostly because he was completely at a loss as to what a Peixes was.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the angry spider-troll stomping up to him.  
  
“John Egbert. I have decided to forgive you for your rudeness.”  
  
“My rudeness? What about your rudeness?”  
  
She waved a hand dismissively and continued on. “That’s not what’s important here. What’s important is that I’m going out to hunt and you’re coming with me.”  
  
Terezi cackled again.  
  
“Shut up, Pyrope! You burnt our friendship bridge a long time ago and lost your hunting with me privileges and you’re just so jealous you can hardly handle it.  
  
The blind girl was laughing so hard she actually fell to the ground. “I burnt our friendship bridge and set up sentries to be sure no construction is ever established again!”  
  
“Come on, John! Don’t you want to learn how to be an exceptionally awesome hunter?” Vriska gave a winning smile that thoroughly terrified him.  
  
“John, that would be an incredibly stupid idea.” The angry boy in red remarked.  
  
John turned to his friends, Rose looked very curious while Jade was nodding emphatically at the idea of him making new friends. Dave shrugged and tipped his head in a way that was more ‘why not’ than ‘you definitely should’.  
  
“Uhh… Yeah, okay. I suppose I can go with you, Vriska.”  
  
“Good, I need someone to walk on my left side and keep watch.” She grabbed him with her good arm and hefted him up to his feet. “Do you have a knife, John?”  
  
“I don’t, sorry. I’m training to be a carpenter. I have a saw but I think that would be pretty useless for hunting.”  
  
Vriska gave a dramatic sigh. “How can you even agree to go hunting with me if you can’t be properly prepared?”  
  
Jade hopped up and promptly handed him her hunting knife. “Just take care of it, okay?”  
  
Vriska grabbed his arm again and started off towards the east gate of the Village.  
  
“What color flowers do you want us to burn on your pyre with you, Egbert?” Karkat called.  
  
Terezi was laughing again. “Poor bastard.”  
  
It wasn’t until they were in the cover of trees that John decided to ask what Vriska’s peers were talking about. He probably should have asked earlier, especially if they were serious, which laughing aside, it seemed that they were.  
  
“Why do all of your friends seem to be worrying for my safety around you?” He asked quietly, crouched on her left side.  
  
“Because they like to blame me for their own shortcomings when I was only trying to help them!” She scowled.  
  
“I guess that’s possible, but maybe you are actually just not aware that you maybe did things that were bad?”  
  
Vriska took a deep breath, her good eye lighting up with something close to rage and suddenly John had a large fuzzy spider clinging to the front of his shirt.  
  
He screeched and flung himself backwards, not affecting the arachnid’s grip at all. He froze and just cowered on his back as Vriska stood over him.  
  
“I’m not the fuck up, John, don’t let them fool you. I was trying to be a good friend and none of them appreciated how great I am!”  
  
John just closed his eyes, trying to tilt his head as far away from the spider as he could manage. He felt a soft pressure on his chest and whined softly.  
  
“Oh, get up, loser.”  
  
He peeped one eye open and saw that the spider was perched on top of Vriska’s head again, he sighed in relief and sat up.  
  
Vriska rolled her good eye, he could he could see that the other one moved as well but turned away quickly so he wouldn’t look. She held out a hand to help him up which he took. Once he was standing she shoved a spool of twine into his hand.  
  
“What’s this for?” He turned the ball over to inspect it and picked at the little raw fibers that frayed off.  
  
“For setting snares of course. It’s pretty much the best way of hunting there is.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started walking towards the edge of a nearby clearing to start setting up. He was pretty sure that what she wasn’t saying was that she couldn’t actually track and hunt anything with just her one usable eye and arm.  
  
He found out while they were setting the snares that she could use her fingers of her bad hand but they were shaky and slow. The snares were really complex and looked very effective. When he asked where she learned to make them she just flipped her hair and laughed.  
  
“I taught myself of course!”  
  
At first John was just too nervous and afraid of her pet spider to tell her he was going back to the Village, but after a while of just sitting with her, watching her work quietly, without bravado or loud confident boasts, he got the feeling more and more that she was just small and scared and trying to make up for it. He decided her fellow outsiders were probably right, she had probably damaged some people and maybe even on purpose but he didn’t think she’d done anything out of malice. The real question was whether or not having good intentions when you do something bad makes up for the bad thing. The other trolls were probably right in how they treated her.  
  
They stayed in the woods until by some arbitrary marker of time Vriska said it was time to check the traps. John was surprised that out of the eight traps she insisted they set, five of them had caught something. Something being scrawny rabbits. He was really excited by the tiny bounty they had brought in, Vriska acted like it was no big deal but she looked excited too.  
  
She insisted that he carry all of the rabbits back to Village even though he had willingly picked them all up anyway. She told him he was barely an acceptable hunting partner and so she’d have to take him out again to be sure that he got the hang of things. He figured that meant they were friends.


End file.
